Lee Cusenbary is the General Counsel at Mission Pharmacal Company in San Antonio. He is also the creator of Ethics Follies®, a musical parody that uses comedy to raise ethics issues. The fully-produced Broadway-style musical combines San Antonio's business leaders and professional actors to engage the community. It is featured each year by The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) for their ethics conference which benefits The Community Justice Program. Lee is also a frequent writer and speaker on why "good ethics is good for business," and is a recipient of the San Antonio Business Ethics Award. In 2012, ACC renamed their ethics awards the "Lee Cusenbary Ethical Life Award" in recognition of his commitment to ethics in law and business. Learn more about how you can be part of a more ethical culture at EthicsFollies.com.

Note: This is an mySA.com City Brights Blog. These blogs are not written or edited by mySA or the San Antonio Express-News. The authors are solely responsible for the content.

J&J To Pay $1.1B In Fines In Arkansas For Overcharging Medicaid

DIA reported today that Johnson and Johnson is in trouble again. For those of you keeping track of similar unethical behaviors by management that grows into crimes at J&J, we’re at about a gazillion. Enough already J&J! Corruption and fraud is not an efficient business model.

Here’s DIA’s story:

The Associated Press (4/12) reports in Arkansas, Circuit Judge Tim Fox “judge fined Johnson & Johnson and a subsidiary more than $1.1 billion after a jury found that the companies downplayed and hid risks associated with taking the antipsychotic drug risperidone [Risperdal].” Fox “determined that Johnson & Johnson and subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. committed nearly 240,000 violations of the state’s Medicaid fraud law – or one for each Risperdal prescription issued to state Medicaid patients over a 31/2-year period.”
“Fox found each violation carried a $5,000 fine, pushing the total to more than $1.1 billion,” Bloomberg News (4/12, Francis, Feeley, Voreacos) reports. “The penalty is the largest of the three handed down so far against New Brunswick, New Jersey-based J&J in state cases alleging the second-biggest maker of health products hid Risperdal’s risks and tricked Medicaid regulators into paying more than they should have for the medicine.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer (4/12) reports, “Arkansas attorney general Dustin McDaniel said in a statement that the judge’s decision ‘sends a clear signal that big drug companies like Johnson & Johnson and Janssen Pharmaceuticals cannot lie to the FDA, patients and doctors in order to defraud Arkansas taxpayers of our Medicaid dollars.’” McDaniel added, “These two companies put profits before people, and they are rightfully being held responsible for their actions.” A company “spokeswoman said that if its motion for a new trial is denied, the company would appeal to the Arkansas Supreme Court.” Also covering the story are the Wall Street Journal (4/12, B2, Loftus, Subscription Publication), the Financial Times (4/12, Rappeport, Subscription Publication), and Reuters (4/12, Pierson, Krauskopf).